Fewer Alabamians will see minor traffic fines turn into a nightmarish cycle of court debt and incarceration after dozens of municipalities cut ties with Judicial Correction Services and other private ‘probation’ companies.

Religious beliefs do not give Alabama probate judges license to pick and choose among the various functions their office is authorized to perform, including same-sex marriages. If they feel that there is a conflict between their responsibilities and their conscience, the solution is simple –they should resign. It's the only honorable thing to do.

An Alabama town will no longer use a for-profit probation company that threatened impoverished people with jail when they couldn’t pay traffic fines. The SPLC warned other cities that Judicial Correction Services' tactics can amount extortion.

The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the treatment of juveniles at the overcrowded Jefferson County Jail in Alabama a year after the SPLC urged the government to investigate the violence, neglect and abuse of children awaiting trial.

President Obama’s visit to Alabama today to discuss proposals to rein in predatory lenders underscores the need to regulate an industry the SPLC has found traps low-income people in a crushing cycle of debt.

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Selma-to-Montgomery March, we should rededicate ourselves to the cause with a renewed sense of urgency and the determination of those who marched the 54 miles to the Alabama Capitol.